Payment Ombudsman proposed by RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to establish an ombudsman for digital payments by March to take the load off the increasing number of complaints currently being handled by the banking ombudsman, said bank officials, according to the Economic Times.

RBI in its Annual Report for 2017-18 said that it was considering a plan to establish a separate ombudsman to handle consumer complaints related to digital transactions. The central bank is presently in the process of creating a scheme for establishing offices across the country for the digital payments ombudsman.

RBI last year issued instructions to mobile wallet issuers and non-banking payments entities to establish a publicly disclosed customer grievance redressal framework. “(PPIs will be) designating a nodal officer to handle the customer complaints, the escalation matrix and turnaround time for complaint resolution. The complaint facility, if made available on website/mobile, shall be clearly and easily accessible,” RBI said in a master circular issued in October 2017